The present invention relates generally to an electrical connector and, more particularly, to a field repairable connector which is suitable for use in hostile environments.
Environmental type connectors are utilized by the geophysical industry throughout the world. Typical climatic operaing conditions for such connectors includes the severe cold of the Arctic, the moisture and dampness of tropical regions and the arid dryness and dusty conditions of desert localities. Most environmental connectors of the type suitable for such environments, once they are coupled to the conductors of the cable, are extremely difficult if not impossible to repair should an accident occur in the field damaging or destroying any element of the connector contact and/or harnessing system. In the majority of instances the cable must be severed by a technician and the entire connector is scrapped, sometimes foreshortening the cable to such an extent that even in another connector is connected to the cable, the cable is not sufficiently long to allow such connector to engage with a mating connector on a second cable. Under these circumstances, unless replacement cable assemblies are immediately available, particularly in the case of remote exploration crews, the entire project may be shut down resulting in substantial losses.
In one environmental connector which has been utilized for geophysical applications, it is necessary to remove the front elastomeric insulator from the connector shell in order to remove and replace contacts mounted in the insulator and to connect cable conductors to the contacts. The elastomeric insulator is initially compression mounted in the barrel of the connector to provide a seal therebetween. Removal of the insulator from the barrel to allow replacement of the contacts causes the seal to be broken, which cannot always be reestablished when the insulator is remounted in the barrel. In addition, repair and replacement of contacts and the connection of the cable conductors to the contacts in the field is time consuming and sometimes difficult to perform.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,447 discloses a high temperature hermetic electrical connector in which the contacts of the connector are permanently sealed in a ceramic insulator which in turn is sealed to the wall of the connector shell so that the insulator is not removable therefrom. The contact bodies may not be removed from the insulator, and the insulator cannot be removed from the shell in the field, thus making replacement of the contact bodies impossible in the field. This patent discloses a rear harnessing system for simultaneously coupling the cable conductors to the rear of the contact bodies in the front ceramic insulator. The harnessing arrangement is not entirely practical for geophysical applications requiring very large number of contacts to which the conductors of the cable must be harnessed.
Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide an improved environmental connector which may withstand hostile environments yet which permits quick and reliable emergency field repair in the event of damage to or destruction of any element of the primary contact or harnessing system, without impairing the sealing characterisitcs of the connector.